Exploring New Worlds
03
The Artistic Vision of
Heliopause EP
Art Direction
Music Videos
Photography
Merchandise Design
Artwork
Identity Design
Personal Project
Artist
Everything’s Dark
Year
2023
Mission
Seamlessly integrate the concepts of escapism and space travel into a comprehensive visual campaign and a unified narrative that captivates the audience for an entire release cycle.
Outcome
A fully art-directed campaign featuring a sprawling two-part narrative music video, press portraits, minimalist artwork, a cohesive identity design system for the EP's release concert, and merchandise designs.
Go for launch
The biggest challenge for a musician is crafting a cohesive story with each new release. My deep house/ambient techno project, Everything’s Dark, explored this with its second EP, Heliopause, which delves into themes of space, escapism, and the Voyager space missions.
Fueled by my passion for space travel, storytelling, and techno, I set out to release my second EP, Heliopause, accompanied by a comprehensive and visually stunning campaign. The project quickly grew into a larger
artistic vision.
The centerpiece of the campaign was a two-part narrative music video.
Part 1: Heliosphere
Part 2: Pale Blue Dot
The process involved extensive pre-production work, including scriptwriting, casting, and location scouting. The project was a major collaborative effort, involving a dedicated crew of 10 incredibly talented individuals. Together, we meticulously planned every detail of the shoot to ensure smooth execution, with everyone working closely to achieve the best possible outcome.
The storyline circles around the topic of escapism and space travel, following the journey of an astronaut and a young man.
Artist appears in one of the storylines and interacts with the main character.
Storylines are separated by the use of black & white and color.
Inspiration taken from Caspar David Friedrich’s Wanderer über dem Nebelmeer (1818). We shot this scene in Saxon Switzerland—the canyon landscape this painting was inspired from.
The shoot itself stretched over three days and one night, covering 700 km of travel across the state of Saxony. We captured scenes at various stunning locations, including the breathtaking canyons of Saxon Switzerland.
The two storylines are distinguished by the use of color versus black and white. The blue and grey hues mirror those found in the artworks of the singles and EP.
The EP artwork abstracts the Golden Record—a phonograph carried by the Voyager space missions. The graphics for each single are all part of the EP's artwork.
Self Portraits
The project included creating some merchandise and identity design for the release concert.
Credits
Creative Team
Artist
Everything’s Dark
Art Director
Simon Carl Köber
Photographer
Simon Carl Köber
Music Videos
Starring
Frithjof Rave
Station Workers
Conrad Böhme
Moira Hanel
Person on the Bench
Isabella Collie-Cousins
Ed Double
Gregor Reinhold
Written & Directed by
Simon Carl Köber
Production Design
Kim Josephine Schölch
Director of Photography
Simon Carl Köber
Astronaut Suit
Nele Schiller
Make-Up & Hair
Mia Kersten
Production Manager
Diana Kostenko
Set Production Assistant
Isabella Collie-Cossins
Art Production Assistant
Hannah Adam
Logistics & Catering
Conrad Böhme
1st Assistant Camera
Moira Hanel
2nd Assistant Camera
Hannah Adam
Additional Camera Operator
Moira Hanel